As much crap as some of you like to give people for not being as negative… er, sorry, as realistic about Georgia football as you are, I haven’t seen any commenter here quaff the Disney Dawg Kool-Aid as deeply as this CFN writer has. I mean, geez, I’m as pleased as anybody about the Pruitt hire, “… but a midnight steal out of Tallahassee suddenly has Georgia football a title favorite in the eyes of many”? Whoa.

The fact that she says “helped make Georgia an early favorite to win the SEC East in 2014 … and from there it’s likely just two wins to a national title” shows me she may have a keeping up with the Joneses problem.

From my admittedly poor math skills, if UGA were to win the SEC East they would be three wins from a national title (SEC Championship, Final Four, NC Game).

Well, two real games. We all know how weak the SEC West will be this year. Bama lost TWO games last year. Their reign as an elite team is all but over. Auburn is on a losing streak. We beat LSU last year. Piece of cake, right? It’s not like we’d play a tough team in the SEC Championship game… like whoever wins the Big 10ish.

Possible? Yes. Likely, no. The program received a major shot in the arm with the hire of Pruitt/departure of Grantham. This is a major reason to be excited about 2014. This season should tell us if the issues on D in 2013 were youth, coaching or lack of talent. But what about the O-line? ST’s? And Mason, while I look for good things from him, is still unproven. And the health of all those injured players from last season? There are far too many questions surrounding the 2014 Dawgs to proclaim them a title contender in my book.

Warning. Drinking the Kool Aid can have many long term side effects including headache, nausea, vomiting, trouble breathing, muscle pain, trouble sleeping, broken hands, broken remotes, broken marriages. Don’t bother calling your Doctor if you experience any of these symptoms as he’ll laugh at you and tell you “I told you so.”

Well…I can see it happening. Georgia has about as good a shot a anyone.
Somebody’s going to win the SEC E…Georgia is favored. It will take some doing but aside from UGA and SC…it’s a long shot for the others.
Only one team can win the SEC W…So we dont’ have to worry about how good the West is. .I don’t see AU as being the favorite. Alabama and LSU are (to me) the favorites..but Georgia has shown they can play with those two.
That’s about it. Win the conference..it’s a long shot but even or better than even with any other team in the conference. (my favorite flavor, Georgia red)
Here’s the thing….if the SEC gets two teams in the playoffs…does that mean a possible rematch of the SEC CG for the NC? Or will the brackets be drawn to make them play one another early…like back to back?
If the BIG Integer get’s two teams in ?

The early Thursday night football game gives the OBC a couple of extra days practice against East Carolina Pirates. Whoopie. They start their season with Texas A&M. They don’t have an open date prior to the game between the hedges but Georgia does. Gators,after playing Georgia and Vandy, catch Spurrier when he’s had an extra week of preparation for them.I like our schedule. I like their schedules too.

I’d dispute the idea that Georgia’s a title favorite even in the minds of “many”, no matter how large a population that vague term is supposed to quantify. I’m happily willing to believe that Georgia’s defense will improve with this hire. I am, after all, a Disney Dawg at heart. However, this year’s “the offense is so good it doesn’t even need a great quarterback, just a good enough one” is last year’s “the defense will be OK because it just will.”

Last year, we all blissfully ignored the fact that Georgia would be heavily reliant on new starters and in some cases freshmen in key positions on defense because we thought they’d be coached up in such a way that would make them miraculously competent. This was the belief of “many”, despite the lack of real evidence and in spite of the evidence of the often leaky defense of 2012 that was manned by dearly departed NFL talent. Sure, they stoned Florida that year but so did everyone else; Florida did its winning in 2012 on the strength of defense, not offense.

Georgia’s offense has Gurley and Marshall, it’s got a deep corps of receivers, and it’s got an experienced line (though Georgia fans often conflate the idea of “experience” with “being good”). But the jury’s out on the quarterback. I’m willing to believe in Hutson Mason. But he’s not Aaron Murray and he never will be.

Georgia’s going to have two tough challenges for its new defense right out of the gate. As much as I’d like to believe Jeremy Pruitt is going to fix the defense, I don’t know how realistic it’s going to be to hold Clemson and South Carolina off of the scoreboard in the first two games of his watch (and yes, I know they’re both breaking in new QBs too). Georgia is going to have to score. And Georgia’s going to have to do it with good quarterback play. Georgia will be a good team next year. A championship team? I just can’t go that far.

Solid post. I can agree with the expectation that we will be better on defense next season. Good enough? Too early for that call but, except for Garrison, the athletes are all back and it should be very easy to have them better prepared. I say 1-2 steps ahead of 2013, maybe more.

My bigger concerns are on offense with question marks at OL and QB. Attempting to be somewhat balanced on this, I see about 1-2 steps back from 2013 and that should make us slightly better than what I expect from our two biggest contenders for the East, SC and Mizzou I worry about Mauk more than I did Franklin but they lose the two big defensive ends and WR Washington.) We play both of them on the road so I see it being a tossup, winner will come from the number, and timing, of injuries among those three teams. If we can get to Atlanta we will have answered those offensive questions in a positive way and should be able to compete with the West winner. Looks like a dead-heat in that Division’s race as well with Bama having a slight edge over LSU and Auburn. SEC will be bruising again next year. Would love to have another SEC title in 2014 but I wouldn’t put our chances any better than 20-25% at this point. I don’t think that is Kool Aide type predictions but there should be some reason for optimism since Mason should be as good as the other new starting QBs, but not Murray good.

1- Pruitt’s d gave up 30+ points against the only decent SEC team he faced. Couldn’t stop Auburn at the end of the game when it mattered. And his philosophy of fast tall dline, means giving up a lot of rushing yards, see Bethune Cookman and NC Cstate who both put up about 200 yards rushing on his d last year. Pruitt only faced two ranked teams, much different than lining up against the likes of Clemson, SC, Mizzou and Auburn in one season. I also think GT & UF could be tough outs if they are anything like they were last year.

2- But what really has to concern you about UGA is the first year guy at Qb, Mason. Anyone who’s followed Richt knows he wins 6 to 8 games in his first year with inexperienced Qb’s like Greene, Stafford, Cox, and Murray. All won 6-8 games in their first year as a starter. To expect more than 8 wins in 2014 is drinking the kool aid.

3- Richt’s not a big game coach, his record against ranked teams is he loses 70% since 2010, won 6 of 20 games.

Your first point is tall, fast defensive linemen give up rushing yardage? Hmm. I notice how you keep glossing past the way FSU dominated Clemson. FSU gave up six points to B-C and seventeen to NC State. Color me unconvinced.

Your second point is historically accurate, but I’m not sure it’s particularly relevant. Are you saying that Georgia’s record is completely dependent on the starting QB?

More worried about the ease teams had running the ball against his tall fast skinny dlinemen. Id scoring is your point, he gave up 30+ vs Auburn, the only SEC ranked team he played, so I wouldn’t go there if I were you. Beth-Cook, NC State, Bos Colll, and Auburn all ran with ease against Pruitt’s scheme.And Auburn scored a lot of points.
It’s relevant, Mason is the 5th inexperienced Qb to have his 1st year starting without a lot of experience, all 4 of previous Qb’s, 100%, won 56-8 games.For whatever reason, Richt has never won more than 6-8 games with a first year inexperienced Qb at UGA. To think he’ll win 14 is hilarious.
My 2010-2013 timeframe is a 4 year timeframe, that’s pretty large and the most recent against existing offensive and defensive schemes. Again, winning 6 of 20 of those games against ranked teams doesn’t bode well for Richt’s ability to adjust or prepare in big games.

My first point is since he can’t stop the run with his philosophy of tall skinny fast dlinemen, how will he do against teams that run the ball well AND historically score 30 points a game like SC, Mizzou, Auburn, and Georgia Tech?

Second, since Richt has a first year inexperienced Qb in Hutson Mason, how is looking at how Richt has fared with the past 4 first year inexperienced Qb’s winning 6-8 games with each NOT relevant? You didn’t prove your point.

Third, what makes the most recent 4 years a “convenient” timeframe? Wouldn’t just accuse me of being “irrelevant” if I went back beyond 4 years? i think it’s an inconvenient timeframe for you.

Your point on QB’s is statistically incorrect and also misleading. Stafford’s freshman year UGA went 9-4. Even though Mason obviously doesn’t have Stafford’s talent, his “experience” level is far closer to Shockley (who won the SEC his first year starting) since he is in his 5th year of college this fall.

Hard to believe Pruitt was on Saban’s staff. Where did he get the idea of his of going with tall skinny fast dlinemen? Not form Saban. Can’t stop the run with tall skinny fast dlinemen. A lot of teams rushed well against Pruiit last year including Bethune Cookman, NC State, BC, and Aub. Doesn’t bode well for the GT game as they run the ball well. So does Florida. And Auburn. And South Carolina and Clemson and Mizzou. Gonna be 6 tough outs for skiiny tall fast dlinemen, the scheme Pruitt believes in.

Where did he get the idea of his of going with tall skinny fast dlinemen? Not form Saban. Can’t stop the run with tall skinny fast dlinemen.

“Length” doesn’t mean skinny and weak. When coaches speak of “long” they mean taller players with long arms who are both fast, twitchy, and strong. These guys are generally good at shedding blocks, because they’re long. But also because they’re more athletic.

This is the new cutting edge of defensive football as these players become available, and it’s already gained a foothold in the NFL. The defensive front has to be able to play in space these days (a similar solution to what shut-down corners were to the new passing game of the early ’90’s) and that takes a different kind of athlete. It’ll take a while to turn out sufficient numbers, but the process is well underway by now.

And Pruitt is not necessarily going long with the 0-3 techniques. So you’ve grasped the wrong idea.
~~~

Not lining up next to Bennie in his argument here at all, but DJ Shockley doesn’t count. He’s talking about what UGA has done with inexperienced first-year starters. Shockley certainly wasn’t inexperienced, he’d just never been the starter. Hutson’s been in the offense for years, but he’s had meaningful playing time just twice. He went 1-1.

“Pruitt only faced two ranked teams, much different than lining up against the likes of Clemson, SC, Mizzou and Auburn in one season”
Dude I get the Douchy Dawg meme but come on….
FSU 51 Clemson 14. FSU beat Clemson like a rented mule.
FSU beat Auburn and won the National Championship. I guess they stopped them when it counted. Mizzou has only been in the SEC 2 seasons lets wait a crown them too tough to handle in a couple more seasons. They were as likely to win the east as Duke was likely to win the ACC.

What about dj Shockley? I mean joe cox started more games than dj did and dj won the sec. I don’t understand how Bennie can state that Shockley can be left out his discussion of first year starting qbs.

DJ is the only Qb Mark Richt has ever prepared for his first year starting. DJ was rotated in the year before and had played in 26 games before he finally took over as starter in his final season. Greene, Stafford, Cox and Murray did not have 26 games of experience and wern’t rotated in the year before to get them ready.

Mason has played in 11 games, DJ played in 26 before he took over as starter in his final year. And Mason was not ever rotated in with Murray the way DJ rotated in ever few series with Greene. DJ had a LOT more reps, and played in 16 MORE games than Mason before he took over.

You’ve sold me, Bennie. I thought that Mason was inexperienced. After reading your post above to the effect that Mason has run or passed 140 plays in actual game action, including that he has 2 starts and played most of the UK game last season, I am now convinced that Mason is the same as a returning starter. If Lynch had just held onto the ball at the end of the bowl game Mason would be 3-0. I’m drinking the Kool-Aid now.

What I saw in the UGA vs Auburn game mirrored what I saw in the FSU vs Auburn game. During the 2 qrt & 2nd half of the BCSCG I texted some buddies that I thought FSU’s defense was the key to them winning. Will stand by that. ’14 is predicated up Hutson Mason’s play and progress as a starter. AM was ver expeienced.

’14 East division is going to go to the team with the best QB performance. Missouri in my view has the best coming back. Played more and looked good when Franklin went out. But Roper at UF and Driskell is who I fear most. UF’s defense will be there. Question is their QB play like Dawgs.

Will, come on now, you couldn’t have really been impressed by the rush or pass defense numbers against FSU and the ease FSU had converting 3rd downs? Look at the numbers, they don’t lie.

I disagree, you CAN win with a relatively inexperienced Qb IF you have the right offensive scheme (spread offense with heavy run emphasis) as AUburn has proven twice with Cam Newton and Nick Marshall. Bur Mark Richt runs a Pro Style offense, which Mark Richt has never had any success with his first year inexperienced Qb’s look at Greene, Stafford, Cox or Murray. I’d predict 7 wins, 5 losses in 2014 due to this. Losses to Clemson, SC, Mizzou, Auburn, and either GT or UF.

Your ‘Skinny d-line’ statement is utter nonsense. Pruitt didn’t recruit those guys who were starters on the DL/DE for FSU, they were there when he arrived and he made due with what he had. He’ll do the same with whats currently on our roster now.

Silly Bennie, the average height of DT on the FSU’s roster is 6.1 and 288lbs with 2 walkons weighing 250. DE are 6.3 with an average weight of 253 , which is skrewed down by a 6.5 walkon who weighes 185. I guess your idea of tall and skinny is a little different than mine.

I think you’ve nailed him, ScoutDawg. I was trying to figure out which team he is secretly representing and he may have just told us. I was leaning toward Auburn..But I CAN tell you this.. Bennie is someone that is scared to death that UGA is building a monster. Denial, it’s called.
When you’ve got Gurley and Marshall and whoever else…it makes things a lot easier on the QB..He doesn’t have to be spectacular…(see HW and BB UGA 1980).
But I hope Benny hangs around…as far a sock-puppets go he’s very entertaining.

Now back to the Kool Aid…
Regression toward the mean? Isn’t it nice not to be dawgraded by sports writers?
“…Georgia football a title favorite in the eyes of many.” So would that make Hudson Mason the new T Martin? Interesting that T was picked ahead of Tom Brady in the draft? So we needn’t have worried about Murray falling to a later round. It would be nice to see Murray rewarded with a little extra Ka-ching for all his efforts to this point though.
Aaron Murray an NFL base salary of $570,00 5tth round money of 200,000 bonus or 100,000 bonus if he goes in the 6th.
DGD!

Bennie has made my day. I have a new way to look at the future! We scored 35, 41, 44, and 38 vs. top ten teams in 2013, so I know that when we play top 10 teams for the next 20 years, we will score exactly 39.5 points in each contest. We will dominate. The weather, conditions, environments, players, schemes, coaches, and injuries will all be exactly the same next season and beyond because what has happened in college football is always perfectly repeated the next season. Furthermore, we beat every top 10 team we played at home in 2013, so Mark Richt will never, ever again lose a top 10 game at home. I’m elated. It will be fun times in Athens.

We also scored 45 points against the only team from Texas we played in 2013, which as a team that played in a New Year’s Day bowl game. We are bound to crush the Horns and Aggies when we meet up because we score 45 versus teams from Texas.

Only bummer is we will never again beat a Top 10 team on the road because we were 0-2 in 2013. On the flip side, Hutson Mason is undefeated in overtime, so we will be okay in OT with #14 at the helm.

And look on the bright side, Bennie. Jeremy Pruitt has coached on 3 straight National Championship teams which means we will win the national championship this year. This, of course, after he orders all our D-Linemen to grow two inches and drop 60 lbs.

Bennie has an argument, but the fact that he seems to think that it cannot be any other way is a bit ignorant. Hell, who had Bama letting the Sooners put up over 40 on them. Yes, many thought Bama would lose the game, but I doubt they thought like that.

Better to go by the 19 points Mason put up vs his only top 25 team (Neb finished top 25 in USA Today, top 26 in AP Poll). No 35-44 pts with this guy. Can you say deer meet headlights?

Mason didn’t play a team from Texas last year, so that’s irrelevant too.

Correct about never beating top 10 team under Richt, pretty good bet, even top 25 teams, 70% chance of being right if bet against Richt.

I would not credit ANY of the past 3 National Championships to Pruitt. He coached safeties at Bama, Saban and Smart ran the defense there and get the credit. Auburn did whatever they wanted against Pruiit, run, pass, 3rd downs, unstoppable. Winston and the offense won that game. No one nominated a defensive guy for MVP in that game.

Tall fast guys will be moved to dline under pruitt. He likes tall and fast on dline. It’s his philosophy, if dlinemen are short and slow they’ll be sitting the bench.

It’s not my fault that Mason has only faced 1 ranked team and put up 19 points against them. If it’d been me, Mason would have been rotated in in every big game to get valuable experience. All on Richt for Mason’s “small sample size”. Don’t blame me.

Enjoy the kool aid.

P.S. Name 1 legit sports writer picking Mason for Heisman and UGA to win the BCS? Just 1.

How many picked Auburn last season?
Know one really knows, 1-2 key injuries can change a season, or even one fluke play.

You are deciding next season based on the performance of players who are no longer on the team (all the old QBs), a game Mason played that was in pretty bad weather (how many QBs blow up the stats in the rain?), the fact that some players got injured (Pretty sure there are many players who have gotten injured and come back with good performances), and Pruitt’s D (even though we have no idea who will coach the DL).

If you’re a fan of UGA, I don’t get you. If you’re a fan of another team, I really don’t get you.

You want something to be wrong…with everything. Are we supposed to start Faton Bauta? Good Lord, Shock looked dreadful vs. Tech in ’04, then played great in ’05. And Hutson was MUCH better than that over the 2.5 games he played this year at the end. Of starting QBs in the SEC next year, which one would you take over Hutson?

If opinions of sportswriters matter so much to you, how come every sportswriter thinks Richt knocked a grand slam with hiring Pruitt? I think the guy knows defense. We’ll be better and you’ll be able to see it game 1. Doesn’t mean we’ll win all of them, but we’ll be better defensively for many reasons. Pruitt is one of them.

Yes, I am a UGA fan, just not drinking the kool aid for 2014, it’s a rebuilding season.

No, I am basing my prediction, on Mark Richt’s track record with first year inexperienced starters at Qb. All have won 6-8 games. More on Mark Richt than the players. It’s happened too many times to blame the players. It’s Richt’s Pro style system, and his decision making in transition years.

No, I would NOT skip Hutson Mason, but I would allow a full blown QB competition in every game. I’d let the No 1 and #2 battle it out. If no one emerges, let the No 1 and No 3 battle, during games. And the No 2 HAS to get SIGNIFICANT REPS in EVERY GAME or you’re facing this issue AGAIN IN 2015 (QB with little experience).

No I’m not blaming last season on weather, injuries, lame excuses. Sorry not impressed with Pruitt, he doesn’t have a good track record vs good SEC teams. Hope that changes.

Just not a kool aid rosy person. Bit more Larry Munson in me.

I agree with sportwriters that Pruit is better than Grantham, and an upgrade, but that’s not saying a whole lot. Agree the defense will be better than last season against the pass, not against the run.

big plus for Pruitt is his defense forced a lot of turnovers, more than FSU did the year before. If he keeps that up, it can offset Mason’s inexperience. So can running the ball, whioch Richt rarely finishes in the top 3 in rushing in the SEC, so jury is out there. Grantham did a terrible job there in 2013.

You need to drop this business about looking at what Pruitt did at another school versus one school from the Southeastern Conference. For one thing, the myth that the SEC is the NFL or something and that nobody else knows how to play ball is complete garbage and is indicative of someone who doesn’t know what they’re talking about. For two, Pruitt blew up Florida. And Jameis Winston didn’t take a single snap on defense in the Rose Bowl, so I don’t know who you think it was that held Auburn after the Tigers got their big lead, but it sure wasn’t the Florida State offense. The FSU defense put an anchor on Auburn and held them to allow FSU to get back into the game offensively. And, oh, by the way the FSU offense’s complete inability to get anything going early on probably did no favors for the FSU defense in that game. Field position. Special teams. These things matter.

The main problem i have with CMR is he never let John Stinchcomb run the ball.

I mean, Stinchcomb scored 100% of the time he carried the ball, yet CMR never switched him to RB.

Really, does that stat say “good or great coach” to anyone on planet earth?

Bloviation for the Dawgnation

Quote Of The Day

“It brings back a great Bulldog running back in Thomas who has NFL playing experience and has had success as a college coach at multiple schools. He also inherits a position that has been built to an elite level by Bryan. And it gives Bryan the opportunity to return to coaching the position he played and the one where he cut his teeth serving as a graduate assistant under wide receiver coach John Eason here at UGA. It also provides him with a new experience as a passing game coordinator.” -- Mark Richt, AB-H, 2/16/15